Aston Villa sign Clement Lenglet on loan from Barcelona
- Lenglet returns to England with Aston Villa and Unai Emery
- Deal to join Conference League qualifiers does not include a permanent transfer clause
- The Frenchman spent last season on loan with Tottenham
By Tom Gott
Aston Villa have confirmed the signing of centre-back Clement Lenglet from Barcelona on loan for the remainder of the season.
Lenglet spent last year with Tottenham Hotspur, who declined their option to make the move permanent but explored a discounted deal for the French defender before turning their attention to Micky van de Ven.
That gave Villa the chance to join the race for his signature and a deal has now been struck to take Lenglet back to the Premier League for the next 12 months.
Barcelona confirmed that the loan deal does not include the option to make the move permanent.
Having registered Lenglet in their La Liga squad just days ago, Barcelona will have freed up some salary space which can be used on future signings, with Manchester City's Joao Cancelo and Atletico Madrid's Joao Felix their top targets.
READ THE LATEST NEWS FROM 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS TEAM
feed
Lenglet managed 26 appearances in the Premier League for Spurs last season and now has the chance to add to that tally with Villa, who have already lost centre-back Tyrone Mings to a nasty knee injury.
He becomes the second centre-back signing for Unai Emery's side, who splashed out on Spain international Pau Torres from Villarreal earlier this summer.
Alongside Torres and Lenglet, Villa have also recruited Moussa Diaby, Nicolo Zaniolo and Youri Tielemans.
Barcelona had hoped to sell Lenglet permanently but are currently working on reducing their salary for the coming season, with Ansu Fati's imminent move to Brighton & Hove Albion also set to free up a significant sum.
LISTEN NOW TO 90MIN'S TALKING TRANSFERS PODCAST
On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth and Graeme Bailey to discuss whether Mohamed Salah could actually join Al Ittihad from Liverpool, Bayern Munich's hunt of Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha, the ongoing Sofyan Amrabat to Man Utd saga & more!
If you can't see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!